For the last month, Kylie has been in Victoria General Hospital as she awaits long term care.

“My parents have been bending over backwards my entire life to try and get me help,” Kylie said.

Lisa said for years they have been hitting one dead end after another. But after Kylie’s condition recently worsened, they fought tooth and nail to get a referral to B.C. Children’s Hospital, where their other daughter received cancer treatment.

Kylie took part in a three-hour interview the family described as gruelling.

“I was crying for some of the [personal] questions, it was so hard for me to answer a bunch of these questions,” Kylie said.

However, Kylie was denied a bed in the hospital.

“They kept telling us they’re not a treatment centre,” Jay said.

She was also denied a spot in the special care unit at Vancouver Island’s Ledger House, according to Lisa.

She said it would be a one-year wait for Kylie to get into Maples Adolescent Treatment Centre in Burnaby.

“As a mother, [I] want to take care of both of [my] kids equally. [I] love them the same, it’s a constant fight,” Lisa said.

“I will probably shock most people with what I’m going to say but if I had a choice about what disease or ailment, if I had to chose for my child, I would pick cancer over mental illness.”

Now the family may be forced to part ways as they consider out-of-province care for Kylie.